MAPEH

1. lamic Musical
Origins
By Dylan Coward

2. Pre-Islamic Music
• Djahiliyya
– “the age of ignorance”
• Before 750 AD
• Bedouin poets
– Revered in a completely oral society
of nomadic pastoralists
– Huda
• First form of song
– Sinad and Hazaj
• Qiyan

3. Music at the Rise of Islam

4. The Rise of Islam
• Centralized society
– Wealthy Arabs w/ an
appreciation for Persian
music
• Raqiq
– Persian prisoners
• Madjis (salons)
– Competed using standards
of measurement (tarab)
• Mawla
– Non-Arabs accepted into the
ruling class
– Azza al Mayla
• Sawt - the human voice
– “comes directly from the soul
as breath”

5. Adhan - Call to Prayer
• From minaret of
mosque
• 5 times daily
• Muezzin
– Chosen caller

6. Instruments
• Stringed
– Oud (lute)
• Wind
– Nay
• Percussive
– Darabukkah
– Wazn
• dum/tak beats
(naqarat)

7. Abbasids
“The Golden Age of
Islam”
• 750 AD
• Patronage
• Cultural diversification
– declining Arab racial
supremecy
• Controversy
– Ancients/Moderns
• Musical Standards
– Maqam
• Cultural waning under
Ottoman Turk and
European regimes
• A return in the nineteenth
century

8. Malahi
“forbidden pleasure”
• Athough music is not directly
mentioned in the Qur’an
there are many scholars
claiming that music is
impermissable.
• These Muslims associate
music with other forbiden
pleasures like alchohol and
sex.
• To them the safest music to
play or listen to are Nasyids
• However there are many
Muslims who interpret the
scripture as allowing music
with many instruments, just as
long as the content is of an
Islamic ethos.
• Outlandish - Danish Hip Hop